Remembering Our Fallen Heroes

Thinking of those who paid the ultimate price this Memorial Day.....and what a wonderful country in which we live because of them!  Although we can't thank them, we can thank the ones they've left behind and let them know their loved ones are not forgotten.

I will be taking a couple of days off from blogging because of our house project....it's getting to the nitty-gritty, down-and-dirty stuff, so I want to be able to help wherever and whenever I can!  Our kitchen is now set up in the garage---it's a bit cozy and there's no dishwasher, but it is really not a bad setup at all!  The walls between the living room and new kitchen will be down tomorrow and I am beginning to get a feel of how big it will be! I'll be back when the dust settles...literally!

Have a blessed day!

PP346 A Friend Like You

Hello, everyone!  Laurie is our Paper Players hostess today with a sweet little sketch!  Check it out:

This is the time of the year that I am torn between playing with new goodies or trying to use up some retiring goodies that I still have LOTS of!  This Serene Scenery DSP is just so pretty, I admit to hoarding it a wee bit, so I forced myself to use this sweet dandelion scene along with the retired Banner Blessings and soon-to-be-retired Kinda Eclectic:

I stamped the sunburst in So Saffron, then the sentiment on top in Early Espresso.  I stamped it again on some scrap cardstock and cut out the little banner so that it would extend outside the edge of my square.  I added some mats, sequins, and burlap trim, then stamped a dear little sentiment from March's Paper Pumpkin below....I thought the two sentiments complemented each other nicely!

The design team has outdone themselves with this sketch...you can see all of their creations at the Paper Players blog!  I hope you will play along with the sketch and use some of your new--or old--goodies too!

So....we went to a wedding Friday night; it was in a barn, but it was very nicely done.  I am still trying to learn how to do a selfie, LOL!

Then bright and early Saturday morning, we did our little town's Memorial Day parade; John marched behind the color guard:

Then participated in the 21-gun salute with some of the other veterans:

Then, all afternoon, we started dismantling the kitchen....the fridge and stove are out in the garage, the cupboards are bare, and today, the rest of it will be gone...ready for the wall to come out!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details--All Supplies Stampin' Up!
Stamps	Kinda Eclectic, Paper Pumpkin (March 2017), Banner Blessings (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick Whisper White, So Saffron, Early Espresso, Serene Scenery DSP
Ink	So Saffron, Early Espresso
Accessories	Tip Top Taupe Sequins, Burlap Trim
Tools	Big Shot, Layering Squares Framelits, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch

Wood Words Meets Swirly Bird for FMS289

Happy Saturday, peeps!  I feel like this week has been a whirlwind and I haven't gotten in enough stamping time!  Last night we went to a wedding, today is the Memorial Day parade and tomorrow we start dismantling the kitchen!  Yikes!  I did sneak in some crafty minutes yesterday morning and made a masculine card with the FMS sketch:

I had Swirly Bird on my desk from another project (which I'll share later) so I thought I would combine it with the stars from Wood Words to make a masculine card, good for a birthday or maybe even Father's Day card:

The background is the new Wood Textures DSP; I also used it as the water, sponging it with Marina Mist, and stamping the stars on it as well in Marina Mist, Real Red and Craft White.  I stamped my little sailboat in the same colors, made it float on the water, surrounded by a Stitched Shapes square frame, and it was about done!

I did add some star embellishments as well as a sentiment from Colorful Seasons!  I love this vintage look!

The roofers were able to finish yesterday:

and that huge blue tarp made for some interesting special effects in Cassidy's bedroom:

Truthfully, the picture doesn't do it justice....it was like a dark blue night sky with little starlights showing through....reminiscent of Van Gogh's Starry Night!!!  It looks more like an aquarium here!

She loved it!  Thanks for popping in and have a blessed day!

Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Swirly Bird, Wood Words, Colorful Seasons
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Real Red, Wood Textures DSP
Ink	Marina Mist, Real Red, Craft White
Accessories	Enamel Stars
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Shapes Framelits, Layering Squares Framelits, Dimensionals

Pinterest Grad Cards

Happy Thursday, peeps!  My friend Billie came over on Monday to make a couple of graduation cards and we needed some ideas, so we trolled Pinterest to get some! I apologize for the photos..they were taken on my kitchen table, LOL!   

Billie's grandson will be graduating soon, and his school colors were navy and burnt orange, so we made a card for him based on this card by demo Doris Denman, found on Pinterest:

We used French Script, stamped on a piece of scrap computer paper to create the diploma;  a couple of Paper Pumpkin sets for the sentiment, and Large Numbers dies for the numbers; the inside used a retired set called Adventure Awaits!

Her nephew will also be graduating from the Philadelphia Police Academy, so we thought stars would be a great theme for his card, based on this card from SUO Challenges; unfortunately, I couldn't figure out which designer actually made the card to give her credit!  We used the Lucky Stars EF, a Nestie star die set and Watercolor Wishes for the sentiment:

We had such a good time stamping together!  Billie was one of my very first demonstrators and has been my stamping companion for over 15 years!

No Cassidy pix today, but I wanted to share the mermaid blanket Dana crocheted for Cassidy...looks warm and toasty, doesn't it?!  Her own pattern too, my clever girl!

Roofers were here on Tuesday and should be finished on Friday...the weather has not been cooperative this week like it was last week!  Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details--All Products SU'! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Paper Pumpkin, French Script (ret), Adventure Awaits (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Night of Navy, Cajun Craze, Silver Foil
Ink	Night of Navy, Cajun Craze
Accessories	Candy Dot, Narrow Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Navy Brad (ret), Black Embroidery Floss
Tools	Big Shot, Large Numbers Dies, Star Dies (Nestabilities), Lucky Stars EF, Dimensionals

IM301 Just a Note

Happy Wednesday, peeps!  A quick card today, squeaking it in for the In(k)Spire Me sketch:

They had me at those three little banners!

This was a snap to put together; the only stamping was the sentiment from Watercolor Wishes and the little pink heart, stamped with Wood Words. Everything else was from a sweet little 6x6 pad by Simple Stories called I Am.  I snipped and punched all the elements, then stuck 'em all together on a Powder Pink card base!  Isn't this little birdie cute?

I think this will be a wee little bird-day card for someone sweet that I know!!  Enjoy your day--be blessed!

Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Watercolor Wishes, Wood Words
Card stock & Papers	Powder Pink, I Am DSP (Simple Stories)
Ink	Basic Black, Flirty Flamingo
Accessories	Baker's Twine
Tools	Big Shot, Stitched Rectangle Die (Lil'Inker), Small Heart Punch, Dimensionals

Two Fifties Make a Hundred - SIP100

Happy Tuesday, peeps!  It's a special day for the Stamp Ink Paper team...it's our 100th challenge!  Justin is challenging us to make a card with our favorite products this week!  And to sweeten the week, there is blog candy!  Check it out HERE!

I can honestly say that I don't have a single "favorite" stamp...each catalog, each season, each mood brings a favorite for me!!  So I really had a dilemma as to how to choose my favorite!  But my friend asked me to create a 50th wedding anniversary card for her, so I pulled out a few of my "favorite" products to make my card:

I started with thick white cardstock...I can definitely say that is a favorite, because it accepts ink, embossing and watercoloring very well!  Then I found a retired embossing folder which is just lovely, called Elegant Lines, and embossed a white panel to sit atop my card.  I know that gold is the color of 50th wedding anniversaries, but I didn't want gold foil, so I still had a few pieces of retired Brushed Gold cardstock and I created a window and a frame for my gold-embossed sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes....another versatile, favorite set!  It was embossed on vellum, and although you can't see behind it, there is music stamped in gold.  My final touches were some gold diecuts from the Flourish Thinlets, numbers from the Timeless Type die, and I added pearl accents to them and the embossed panel as well:

The photos just don't do it justice!!  For the inside, I stamped a sentiment from Occasional Quotes in Gold Encore ink and added another gold diecut down the left side:

For even more shimmer, I stamped the flourish from Flourishing Phrases on the envelope in Gold Encore ink...so elegant!

Now just in case you were wondering about "two fifties make a hundred" from the title of my post...my friend also asked me to make a 50th birthday card with a bowling theme, so I printed a computer-generated image a couple of times, fussy-cut some of the pins, colored them and popped them up, to create this card!

I used the Large Numbers die, Labeler Alphabet for the sentiment and the Zig Zag embossing folder for the background!  SO...50 plus 50 equals 100, and it's the 100th challenge for Stamp Ink Paper!!!  And before I forget, let me show you my blog candy, which is winging its way to Justin to go to some lucky recipient!

A few little SU goodies all tucked away in a wee little package!  Hope you play along with us this week!  You could be a lucky winner!!

Each child in Cassidy's class made a video of themselves, telling what they liked about their teacher. One parent will put them all together to present to the teacher as a gift at the end of the school year. Cassidy wanted to get dressed up, and she was so wound up, I could barely get her to stand still to take a photo!  

But the star of the show was the sandals....sparkly!  Too bad they won't make it into the video, LOL!

It's been rainy, so no work done on the addition!  But I'll keep you posted!  Have a wonderful day and be blessed!

Anniversary Card Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Teeny Tiny Wishes, Flourishing Phrases, Music Note Wheel (ret), Occasional Quotes (ret)
Card stock & Papers	Thick White, Brushed Gold (ret), Vellum
Ink	Gold Encore
Accessories	Pearls
Tools	Big Shot, Elegant Lines EF, Large Oval Punch, Scallop Oval Die (Nestabilities), Foam Adhesive Strips, Flourish Die, Timeless Type Die, Dimensionals

Bowling Card Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Labeler Alphabet, computer-generated image
Card stock & Papers	White, Basic Black, Real Red
Ink	Basic Black
Accessories
Tools	Big Shot, Real Red Marker, Copic Markers, Zig Zag EF, Dimensionals

PP345 CAS Butterflies

Hi everyone! Nance is our wonderful hostess today for the Paper Players and look at the fabulous challenge she has for us!

I am sure we'll have some gorgeous creations in the gallery this week!  For my card, I chose to make a notecard using some retiring  (and retired) products that I will surely miss!  So here we go:

This is probably less CAS than I would prefer but I kept thinking of things that would go with the Case This Sketch sketch that I used:

My background images are from Kinda Eclectic (leaves) and Gorgeous Grunge (speckles and lines); sentiment is from February 2016's Paper Pumpkin, Hello Sunshine, and the little butterflies are from Clearly Besotted.  The butterflies are diecut and punched from the SAB glimmer papers in Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay and Mint Macaron, which are also the colors of ink I used.  The little wee strip of washi tape is some I had laying on my desk and it doesn't really match the Mint, but I used it anyway!!!

I can't wait to see your clean-and-simple butterfly creations!  Check out what the design team did as well:

Claire

Jaydee

Joanne

Laurie

Nance

Sandy

Crystal

Valentyna

Deanne

Cassidy surprised me one day by sneaking down to the garden and harvesting the asparagus for me! She did a great job too!  We aren't having a garden this year because of the construction, but the asparagus is a perennial so we don't have to do anything but cut it!  Too bad she doesn't like to eat it!

Enjoy your day and be blessed!

Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Hello Sunshine Paper Pumpkin, Gorgeous Grunge, Kinda Eclectic, Good Day (Clearly Besotted)
Card stock & Papers	Thick White Notecard, Glimmer Paper in Bermuda Bay, Sweet Sugarplum & Mint Macaron (ret SAB)
Ink	Bermuda Bay, Sweet Sugarplum, Mint Macaron
Accessories	Washi Tape, Sequins from various sources (SU, Pretty Pink Posh, Verve)
Tools	Big Shot, Bold Butterflies Framelits (ret), Small Butterfly Punch

Mojo496 with CTD443

Happy Saturday, peeps!  Hope your weekend is going well so far!  I found this gorgeous color combo at Color Throwdown, and guess what---it uses that (ahem) sassy little Lemon Lime Twist!  SO since I already had some cardstock on my desk, I went for it, combining it with the Mojo sketch:

Since these colors seemed so summery, I pulled out Day at the Beach and used it one more time; so sad it didn't make it into the big catalog!  But here we go!  I used Lemon Lime Twist, Summer Sun and Pool Party for my card:

My friend Dawn had a fun card here using strips of cardstock to create a background, so I used the challenge colors to create mine too....great technique! Then I stamped the images and colored them in with a blender pen, adding some enamel dots for fun:

Finally, I used a Paper Pumpkin sentiment from January 2017 and a couple of non-SU stitched dies:

I can handle Lemon Lime with these colors!!

I had a few responses to my Paper Pumpkin storage and cataloging question!  One person suggested the Facebook page "Paper Pumpkin Fan Club"....you have to request to join, but I did find the dates of a few of the sets I was looking for.  I think you can also search on Splitcoaststampers, which is also a treasure trove of information regarding just about every SU set!  My new friend Lynn shared some photos of how she stores her sets, and says:

"I found the CD Case at Staples. (I've purchased the Paper Pumpkin kits from day one and all of them are in this case and there is still room.)  I put each stamp set and the instructions from the kit into a small plastic sleeve that I purchased from Simon Says Stamps.  I labeled each sleeve with the name of the kit and the corresponding date."  If you want further information about her system, let me know!  She is very organized!

Well, the outer construction is about done; new siding and roof will be put on next week:

Our bedroom originally ended where the diagonal lumber was....now we have lots more head room:

and a really big window to let in a nice cross breeze!!

Of course, we had to have a little mishap:

Yes, one of the carpenters slipped and came through the ceiling in the kitchen!  Blessedly, he was okay, but he needed to be "extracted" by my nephew!  And the ceiling was going to have to be cut in that area anyway!  I was not home when it happened, I am sure I would have probably been frightened out of my wits!

And I finally got a cute photo of Cassidy at breakfast:

She wanted me to take this picture so she could put it in her diary...she is making it like a photo album!  The caption she wrote:  "I love eating breckfast AKA I LOVE EATING!"  Too funny!

Enjoy your day, be blessed, and be sure to come back tomorrow for a new Paper Players challenge!

Project Details--All Products SU! Unless Otherwise Noted
Stamps	Day at the Beach, Paper Pumpkin (Jan 2017)
Card stock & Papers	Whisper White, Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist
Ink	Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist, Basic Black
Accessories	Enamel Dots
Tools	Bit Shot, Decorative Dots EF, Stitched Rectangle Dies (Lil'Inker), Bundle of Stitched Shapes Dies (Simon Says Stamp), Adhesive Sheets, Dimensionals